Processing system for reducing data amount of a point cloud

ABSTRACT

A processing system for reducing data amount of a point cloud includes a sample rate controller and a transmitter. The sample rate controller is used for receiving a plurality of coordinates corresponding to the point cloud, and sampling the plurality of coordinates according to an adjustable sampling rate to generate a plurality of sampled coordinates, wherein data amount of the plurality of coordinates is not less than data amount of the plurality of sampled coordinates. The transmitter coupled to the sample rate controller is used for outputting the plurality of sampled coordinates.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 63/184,792, filed on May 6, 2021. The content of the application isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a processing system, and particularlyto a processing system that can reduce data amount of a point cloud.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A point cloud is usually defined as coordinates in a space or ahyperspace, so the point cloud not only contains information ofcoordinates of an object in the space, but also contains depthinformation of the object, resulting in various applications of pointclouds are increasingly widespread. For example, usually point clouds inconsumer electronic products exist in three-dimensional coordinates.After an electronic device obtains the three-dimensional coordinates,the electronic device can further achieve various applications such asthree-dimensional reconstruction and map synthesis according to thethree-dimensional coordinates.

Taking a three-dimensional (3D) point cloud as an example, since aplurality of 3D coordinates contained in the 3D point cloud (each 3Dcoordinate of the plurality of 3D coordinates corresponds to a pixel)are 3D coordinates with a floating-point operation format (for example,each dimensional coordinate of each 3D coordinate is represented by atleast 32 bits), at least 96 bits are required to represent a 3Dcoordinate. If the 3D point cloud also includes color information, sinceeach primary color of the three primary colors R, G, and B needs to berepresented by 8 bits, meanwhile at least 120 (96+24) bits are requiredto represent a 3D coordinate. That is to say, data amount of the 3Dpoint cloud is very large. Therefore, the electronic device needs abuffer with larger capacity and a transmitter with larger bandwidth,that is, cost of the electronic device will be increased.

Therefore, how to reduce the data amount of the 3D point cloud hasbecome an important issue of the related field.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention provides a processing system forreducing data amount of a point cloud. The processing system includes asampling rate controller and a transmitter. The sampling rate controllerreceives a plurality of coordinates corresponding to the point cloud,and samples the plurality of coordinates according to an adjustablesampling rate to generate a plurality of sampled coordinates, whereindata amount of the plurality of coordinates is not less than data amountof the plurality of sampled coordinates. The transmitter is coupled tothe sampling rate controller, wherein the transmitter is used foroutputting the plurality of sampled coordinates.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the processing systemfurther includes a spatial region of interest processor, wherein thespatial region of interest processor determines a spatial region ofinterest, and discards coordinates of the plurality of coordinates,which are outside the spatial region of interest according to thespatial region of interest to keep a plurality of first coordinateswithin the spatial region of interest.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the sampling ratecontroller determines whether to adjust the adjustable sampling rateaccording to output bandwidth of the plurality of first coordinates anda buffer further included in the processing system, and samples theplurality of first coordinates according to the adjustable sampling rateto generate a plurality of sampled first coordinates.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the sampling ratecontroller determines whether to adjust the adjustable sampling rateaccording to output bandwidth of the plurality of first coordinates anda predetermined bandwidth of the transmitter, and samples the pluralityof first coordinates according to the adjustable sampling rate togenerate a plurality of sampled first coordinates.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the processing systemfurther includes a fixed-point number processor, wherein the fixed-pointnumber processor converts the plurality of coordinates with afloating-point operation format into a plurality of second coordinateswith a fixed-point number operation format.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the sampling ratecontroller determines whether to adjust the adjustable sampling rateaccording to output bandwidth of the plurality of second coordinates anda buffer further included in the processing system, and samples theplurality of second coordinates according to the adjustable samplingrate to generate a plurality of sampled second coordinates.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the sampling ratecontroller determines whether to adjust the adjustable sampling rateaccording to output bandwidth of the plurality of second coordinates anda predetermined bandwidth of the transmitter, and samples the pluralityof second coordinates according to the adjustable sampling rate togenerate a plurality of sampled second coordinates.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the processing systemfurther includes a dimension reduction processor, wherein the dimensionreduction processor converts the plurality of coordinates into aplurality of dimension reduction coordinates.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the sampling ratecontroller determines whether to adjust the adjustable sampling rateaccording to output bandwidth of the plurality of dimension reductioncoordinates and a buffer further included in the processing system, andsamples the plurality of dimension reduction coordinates according tothe adjustable sampling rate to generate a plurality of sampleddimension reduction coordinates.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the sampling ratecontroller determines whether to adjust the adjustable sampling rateaccording to output bandwidth of the plurality of dimension reductioncoordinates and a predetermined bandwidth of the transmitter, andsamples the plurality of dimension reduction coordinates according tothe adjustable sampling rate to generate a plurality of sampleddimension reduction coordinates.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the processing systemfurther includes a dimension reduction processor, wherein the dimensionreduction processor converts the plurality of sampled coordinates into aplurality of sampled dimension reduction coordinates, wherein thetransmitter is used for outputting the plurality of sampled dimensionreduction coordinates.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the point cloud is athree-dimensional point cloud, and the sampling rate controller is usedfor receiving a plurality of three-dimensional coordinates correspondingto the three-dimensional point cloud.

According to one aspect of the present invention, each three-dimensionalcoordinate of the plurality of three-dimensional coordinates correspondsto a pixel and has a floating-point operation format.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a processing systemfor reducing data amount of a point cloud. The processing systemincludes a spatial region of interest processor and a transmitter. Thespatial region of interest processor receives a plurality of coordinatescorresponding to the point cloud, determines a spatial region ofinterest, and discards coordinates of the plurality of coordinates,which are outside the spatial region of interest according to thespatial region of interest to keep a plurality of first coordinateswithin the spatial region of interest. The transmitter is coupled to thespatial region of interest processor, wherein the transmitter is usedfor outputting the plurality of first coordinates.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the point cloud is athree-dimensional point cloud, and the spatial region of interestprocessor is used for receiving a plurality of three-dimensionalcoordinates corresponding to the three-dimensional point cloud.

According to one aspect of the present invention, each three-dimensionalcoordinate of the plurality of three-dimensional coordinates correspondsto a pixel and has a floating-point operation format.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a processing systemfor reducing data amount of a point cloud. The processing systemincludes a dimension reduction processor and a transmitter. Thedimension reduction processor receives a plurality of coordinatescorresponding to the point cloud, and converts the plurality ofcoordinates into a plurality of dimension reduction coordinates. Thetransmitter is coupled to the dimension reduction processor, wherein thetransmitter is used for outputting the plurality of dimension reductioncoordinates.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the point cloud is athree-dimensional point cloud, and the dimension reduction processor isused for receiving a plurality of three-dimensional coordinatescorresponding to the three-dimensional point cloud.

According to one aspect of the present invention, each three-dimensionalcoordinate of the plurality of three-dimensional coordinates correspondsto a pixel and has a floating-point operation format.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a processing system for reducing dataamount of a point cloud according to a first embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the sampling rate controller samplingthe plurality of coordinates.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a processing system for reducing dataamount of a point cloud according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating operations of the buffer and thesampling rate controller.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a processing system for reducing dataamount of a point cloud according to a third embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the spatial region of interestprocessor determining the spatial region of interest.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a spatial region of interest applied tothe robot vacuum.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the spatialregion of interest and a traditional region of interest.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating relationships between the spatialregion of interest and the obstacles.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the robotvacuum and a spatial region of interest.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a processing system for reducing dataamount of a point cloud according to a fourth embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a processing system for reducing dataamount of a point cloud according to a fifth embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a processingsystem 100 for reducing data amount of a point cloud according to afirst embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, theprocessing system 100 includes a sampling rate controller 104 and atransmitter 106, wherein the transmitter 106 is coupled to the samplingrate controller 104. As shown in FIG. 1, the sampling rate controller104 can be used for receiving a plurality of coordinates TDCcorresponding to a point cloud, wherein the plurality of coordinates TDChave a floating-point operation format (for example, the plurality ofcoordinates TDC are three-dimensional (3D) coordinates, and eachdimensional coordinate of each 3D coordinate is represented by at least32 bits), the transmitter 106 has a predetermined bandwidth, and eachcoordinate of the plurality of coordinates TDC corresponds to a spatialsample. But, in another embodiment of the present invention, theplurality of coordinates TDC can be two-dimensional coordinates ormulti-dimensional coordinates other than three-dimensional coordinates.In addition, the plurality of coordinates TDC are inputted in theprocessing system 100 from outside of the processing system 100.

Because the point cloud has a characteristic of unordered transmission,the sampling rate controller 104 can determine whether to adjust anadjustable sampling rate of the sampling rate controller 104 accordingto output bandwidth of the plurality of coordinates TDC andpredetermined bandwidth of the transmitter 106. For example, as shown inFIG. 2, before a time T1, the output bandwidth of the plurality ofcoordinates TDC is less than a first threshold of the predeterminedbandwidth of the transmitter 106, so the sampling rate controller 104does not adjust the adjustable sampling rate. That is, because theoutput bandwidth of the plurality of coordinates TDC is less than thefirst threshold, the sampling rate controller 104 can utilize theadjustable sampling rate with 1 time (1×) to sample the plurality ofcoordinates TDC. Therefore, before the time T1, the sampling ratecontroller 104 does not discard any coordinate in the plurality ofcoordinates TDC, wherein, as shown in FIG. 2, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6 arecoordinates. But, in another embodiment of the present invention, D1,D2, D3, D4, D5, D6 include data of coordinates and corresponding color(e.g. R, G, B), or other data. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, betweenthe time T1 and a time T2, the output bandwidth of the plurality ofcoordinates TDC is between the first threshold and a second threshold ofthe predetermined bandwidth of the transmitter 106 (wherein the secondthreshold is greater than the first threshold), so the sampling ratecontroller 104 makes the adjustable sampling rate be ½ times, that is,one of two adjacent coordinates of the plurality of coordinates TDC isdiscarded by the sampling rate controller 104. For example, between thetime T1 and the time T2, coordinates with a slash (as shown in FIG. 2)are discarded by the sampling rate controller 104, wherein coordinates(e.g. as shown in FIG. 2, coordinates D7, D9, D11) in the plurality ofcoordinates TDC left by the sampling rate controller 104 are a pluralityof sampled coordinates, and it is obvious that data amount of theplurality of coordinates TDC is greater than data amount of theplurality of sampled coordinates (that is, the processing system 100 canreduce data amount of the point cloud). In addition, as shown in FIG. 2,after the time T2, the output bandwidth of the plurality of coordinatesTDC is greater than the second threshold, so the sampling ratecontroller 104 makes the adjustable sampling rate be ⅓ times. That is,two of three adjacent coordinates of the plurality of coordinates TDCare discarded by the sampling rate controller 104. For example, afterthe time T2, coordinates with a slash (as shown in FIG. 2) are discardedby the sampling rate controller 104, wherein coordinates (e.g., as shownin FIG. 2, coordinates D13, D15, D17) in the plurality of coordinatesTDC left by the sampling rate controller 104 are a plurality of sampledcoordinates, and it is obvious that data amount of the plurality ofcoordinates TDC is greater than data amount of the plurality of sampledcoordinates. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, after the sampling ratecontroller 104 generates the plurality of sampled coordinates, thetransmitter 106 can be used for outputting the plurality of sampledcoordinates to a receiver 202, wherein the receiver 202 can utilize theplurality of sampled coordinates to execute corresponding applications.

In addition, because one of ordinary skill in the art should know thatthe sampling rate controller 104 can be a field programmable gate array(FPGA) with the above-mentioned functions of the sampling ratecontroller 104, or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)with the above-mentioned functions of the sampling rate controller 104,or a software module with the above-mentioned functions of the samplingrate controller 104, or an analog integrated circuit with theabove-mentioned functions of the sampling rate controller 104 accordingto the above-mentioned functions of the sampling rate controller 104,descriptions of a corresponding structure of the sampling ratecontroller 104 are omitted for simplicity. In addition, because one ofordinary skill in the art should know that the transmitter 106 can be afield programmable gate array (FPGA) with the above-mentioned functionsof the transmitter 106, or an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC) with the above-mentioned functions of the transmitter 106, or asoftware module with the above-mentioned functions of the transmitter106, or an analog integrated circuit with the above-mentioned functionsof the transmitter 106 according to the above-mentioned functions of thetransmitter 106, descriptions of a corresponding structure of thetransmitter 106 are also omitted for simplicity.

Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a processingsystem 300 for reducing data amount of a point cloud according to asecond embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, adifference between the processing system 300 and the processing system100 is that the processing system 300 further includes a buffer 308,wherein coupling relationships between the sampling rate controller 104,the transmitter 106, and the buffer 308 can be referred to FIG. 3, sofurther description thereof is omitted for simplicity. In addition, inone embodiment of the present invention, the buffer 308 is a staticrandom access memory (SRAM). But, the present invention is not limitedto the buffer 308 being a static random access memory, that is, thebuffer 308 can be other types of memory.

Taking operation of the buffer 308 and the sampling rate controller 104as an example, an adjustable transmission rate ATR of the sampling ratecontroller 104 is defined as a product of [coordinate transmission rate]and [sampling rate of the sampling rate controller 104], the adjustabletransmission rate ATR is a transmission rate for writing to the buffer308, and bandwidth of the transmitter 106 is defined as a transmissionrate for data stored in the buffer 308 being read and transmitted to thereceiver 202. In addition, [the adjustable transmission rate ATR] minus[the bandwidth of the transmitter 106] equals to a rate for data beingheld in the buffer 308, that the rate is positive represents the datastored in the buffer 308 being increased, and that the rate is negativerepresents the data stored in the buffer 308 being reduced. A defaultgeneration rate (bandwidth) of the plurality of coordinates TDC is threetimes the bandwidth (1×) of the transmitter 106, so under a defaultsampling rate (1×), a transmission rate (bandwidth) of the sampling ratecontroller 104 is three times the bandwidth (1×) of the transmitter 106.As shown in FIG. 4, the transmitter 106 always transmits coordinates tothe receiver 202 at 1× transmission rate (i.e. 1× bandwidth). Before, atime T1, because the adjustable transmission rate ATR (wherein theadjustable transmission rate ATR=the product of the coordinatetransmission rate and the sampling rate of the sampling rate controller104) of the sampling rate controller 104 is a default transmission rate,and is equal to 3 times the bandwidth (1×) of the transmitter 106(wherein the default transmission rate is represented by a label 3×, andthe default transmission rate is the bandwidth of the sampling ratecontroller 104 and equals to a product (3×) of the coordinatetransmission rate (3×) and a default sampling rate (1×) of the samplingrate controller 104), when the sampling rate controller 104 utilizes thedefault sampling rate to sample the plurality of coordinates TDC andstores a plurality of sampled coordinates in the buffer 308, amount ofcoordinates stored in the buffer 308 (a dashed line L shown in FIG. 4)is increased by 2× (because the default transmission rate (3×) is thebandwidth of the sampling rate controller 104 and equals to 3 times thebandwidth of the transmitter 106 (1×), for the buffer 308, thecoordinates stored in the buffer 308 is increased by 3× (correspondingto the sampling rate controller 104), but is reduced by 1×(corresponding to the transmitter 106), finally resulting in thecoordinates stored in the buffer 308 being increased by 2×). Between thetime T1 and the time T2, because no coordinate is generated (forexample, between the time T1 and the time T2, the plurality ofcoordinates TDC are invalid, so the sampling rate controller 104 doesnot sample the plurality of coordinates TDC), the amount of thecoordinates stored in the buffer 308 (the dashed line L shown in FIG. 4)is reduced by 1×. Between the time T2 and a time T3, a transmission rateof the adjustable transmission rate ATR of the sampling rate controller104 is still the default transmission rate. Therefore, between the timeT2 and the time T3, because the sampling rate controller 104 can utilizethe default sampling rate to sample the plurality of coordinates TDC,and store the plurality of sampled coordinates in the buffer 308, theamount of the coordinates in the buffer 308 (the dashed line L shown inFIG. 4) is increased by 2×, wherein at the time T3, the amount of thecoordinates stored in the buffer 308 achieves a first threshold THD1.Therefore, between the time T3 and a time T4, because the amount of thecoordinates stored in the buffer 308 achieves the first threshold THD1,the sampling rate controller 104 adjusts the adjustable transmissionrate ATR to be 2 times (named as a first transmission rate, wherein thefirst transmission rate is represented by a label 2× (because thecoordinate transmission rate (3)×a first sampling rate (⅔) of thesampling rate controller 104=2)) the bandwidth (1×) of the transmitter106. Between the time T3 and the time T4, because the transmission rateof the adjustable transmission rate ATR of the sampling rate controller104 is the first transmission rate, when the sampling rate controller104 utilizes the first sampling rate to sample the plurality ofcoordinates TDC and stores the plurality of sampled coordinates to thebuffer 308, the amount of the coordinates stored in the buffer 308 (thedashed line L shown in FIG. 4) is increased by 1× (because the firsttransmission rate is 2 times the bandwidth of the transmitter 106 (1×),for the buffer 308, the coordinates stored in the buffer 308 isincreased by 2× (corresponding to the sampling rate controller 104), butis reduced by 1× (corresponding to the transmitter 106), finallyresulting in the coordinates in the buffer 308 being increased by 1×),wherein at the time T4, the amount of the coordinates stored in thebuffer 308 achieves a second threshold THD2. Between the time T4 and atime T5, because the amount of the coordinates stored in the buffer 308achieves the second threshold THD2, the sampling rate controller 104adjusts the adjustable transmission rate ATR again to be 1 time (namedas a second transmission rate, wherein the second transmission rate isrepresented by a label 1× (because the coordinate transmission rate(3)×a second sampling rate (⅓) of the sampling rate controller 104=1))the bandwidth of the transmitter 106 (1×). Therefore, between the timeT4 and the time T5, because the transmission rate of the adjustabletransmission rate ATR of the sampling rate controller 104 is the secondtransmission rate, when the sampling rate controller 104 utilizes thesecond sampling rate to sample the plurality of coordinates TDC andstores the plurality of sampled coordinates to the buffer 308, theamount of the coordinates in the buffer 308 (the dashed line L shown inFIG. 4) (the dashed line L shown in FIG. 4) is not increased any more(because the transmitter 106 always transmits coordinates to thereceiver 202 by 1× transmission rate, and the second transmission rateequals to the bandwidth of the transmitter 106 (1×)). At the time T5,because no coordinate TDC is generated (for example, after the time T5,the plurality of coordinates TDC are invalid, the sampling ratecontroller 104 does not sample the plurality of coordinates TDC), theamount of the coordinates stored in the buffer 308 (the dashed line Lshown in FIG. 4) is reduced by 1×.

In addition, in another embodiment of the present invention, when theamount of the coordinates stored in the buffer 308 achieves a threshold,the sampling rate controller 104 does not sample (that is, coordinatescan be discarded any time, and a sampling rate of the sampling ratecontroller 104 is equal to 0) the plurality of coordinates TDC; when theamount of the coordinates stored in the buffer 308 is less than thethreshold, the sampling rate controller 104 utilizes the defaultsampling rate to sample the plurality of coordinates TDC.

Please refer to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a processingsystem 500 for reducing data amount of a point cloud according to athird embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, adifference between the processing system 500 and the processing system300 is that the processing system 500 further includes a spatial regionof interest processor 502, wherein coupling relationships between thespatial region of interest processor 502, the sampling rate controller104, the transmitter 106, and the buffer 308 can be referred to FIG. 5,so further description thereof is omitted for simplicity. Please referto FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the spatial region ofinterest processor 502 determining a spatial region of interest ROI. Asshown in FIG. 6, after the spatial region of interest processor 502determines the spatial region of interest ROI, the spatial region ofinterest processor 502 will discard coordinates of the plurality ofcoordinates TDC, which are outside the spatial region of interest ROI tokeep a plurality of first coordinates (e.g. first coordinates FD1, FD2,FD3, FD4, FDS . . . , and so on) within the spatial region of interestROI, and transmit the plurality of first coordinates to the samplingrate controller 104, wherein operational principles of the sampling ratecontroller 104 sampling the plurality of first coordinates to generate aplurality of sampled first coordinates can be referred to correspondingdescriptions of the processing systems 100, 300, so further descriptionthereof is omitted for simplicity. In addition, because the spatialregion of interest processor 502 will discard the coordinates of theplurality of coordinates TDC, which are outside the spatial region ofinterest ROI, it is obvious that the data amount of the plurality ofcoordinates TDC is greater than data amount of the plurality of firstcoordinates, that is, the processing system 500 can reduce the dataamount of the point cloud. In addition, in another embodiment of thepresent invention, the processing system 500 does not include the buffer308, meanwhile operational principles of the processing system 500 canbe referred to the processing system 100, so further description thereofis omitted for simplicity. In addition, in another embodiment of thepresent invention, the processing system 500 does not include thesampling rate controller 104, or the buffer 308, or the sampling ratecontroller 104 and the buffer 308.

In addition, because one of ordinary skill in the art should know thatthe spatial region of interest processor 502 can be a field programmablegate array (FPGA) with the above-mentioned functions of the spatialregion of interest processor 502, or an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC) with the above-mentioned functions of the spatial regionof interest processor 502, or a software module with the above-mentionedfunctions of the spatial region of interest processor 502, or an analogintegrated circuit with the above-mentioned functions of the spatialregion of interest processor 502 according to the above-mentionedfunctions of the spatial region of interest processor 502, descriptionsof a corresponding structure of the spatial region of interest processor502 are omitted for simplicity.

Then, please refer to FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10, wherein FIGS. 7, 8, 9, 10 takea spatial region of interest applied to a robot vacuum 702 as anexample, and the processing system 500 is applied to the robot vacuum702. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a spatial region of interest 704applied to the robot vacuum 702, FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating arelationship between the spatial region of interest 704 and atraditional region of interest 802, FIG. 9 is a diagram illustratingrelationships between the spatial region of interest 704 and obstacles,and FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the robotvacuum 702 and a spatial region of interest 1002. As shown in FIG. 7,because the robot vacuum 702 is very short, the robot vacuum 702 onlyneeds to note the spatial region of interest 704 related to a forwardpath, wherein a height of the spatial region of interest 704 can be setaccording to a height of the robot vacuum 702, and the spatial region ofinterest 704 is included within a field of view FOV of the robot vacuum702. In addition, FIG. 7 only shows a side of the spatial region ofinterest 704. Because the height of the spatial region of interest 704can be set according to the height of the robot vacuum 702 and the robotvacuum 702 is very short (that is, the height of the robot vacuum 702 isvery small), a range of the spatial region of interest 704 is verynarrow. That is, most of the plurality of coordinates TDC (outside thespatial region of interest 704) will be discarded by the spatial regionof interest processor 502. Therefore, it is very obvious that dataamount of the plurality of coordinates TDC is greater than data amountof the plurality of first coordinates within the spatial region ofinterest 704.

As shown in FIG. 8, the spatial region of interest 704 can be athree-dimensional structure, and the traditional region of interest 802is a two-dimensional structure (that is, utilizing two-dimensional imageto define a region of interest). Although both the spatial region ofinterest 704 and the traditional region of interest 802 are included inthe field of view FOV of the robot vacuum 702, a range of thetraditional region of interest 802 is larger the farther away from therobot vacuum 702. In addition, FIG. 8 only shows the side of the spatialregion of interest 704 and a side of the traditional region of interest802. Because the range of the traditional region of interest 802 islarger the farther away from the robot vacuum 702, data amount of aplurality of coordinates of the plurality of coordinates TDC within thetraditional region of interest 802 is greater than the data amount ofthe plurality of first coordinates within the spatial region of interest704. Therefore, the robot vacuum 702 will not utilize the traditionalregion of interest 802.

As shown in FIG. 9, although all obstacles 902, 904, 906 are within thefield of view FOV of the robot vacuum 702, because only the obstacle 902is totally outside the spatial region of interest 704, a processor(coupled to the receiver 202 shown in FIG. 1) of the robot vacuum 702will execute corresponding operations only on the obstacles 904, 906(e.g. the processor within the robot vacuum 702 re-determines a newforward path to avoid the obstacles 904, 906), rather than executinganother corresponding operation on the obstacle 902 (because the heightof the spatial region of interest 704 is set according to the height ofthe robot vacuum 702, the robot vacuum 702 does not hit the obstacle 902when the robot vacuum 702 follows an original forward path).

As shown in FIG. 10, a spatial region of interest 1002 and the robotvacuum 702 can be located at different horizontal positions (forexample, a position where the spatial region of interest 1002 is locatedis lower than a position where the robot vacuum 702 is located), so theprocessor (coupled to the receiver 202) of the robot vacuum 702 candetect whether the ground corresponding to a forward path is not safethrough the spatial region of interest 1002 (for example, a stairappears at the forward path or a hole appears in the groundcorresponding to the forward path). Therefore, when no stair appears atthe forward path or no hole appears in the ground corresponding to theforward path, objects (that is, a floor) within the spatial region ofinterest 1002 should be totally detected by the processor of the robotvacuum 702. However, as shown in FIG. 10, when the stair appears at theforward path or the hole appears in the ground corresponding to theforward path, only objects (that is, a floor) within a block 1003 of thespatial region of interest 1002 can be detected by the processor of therobot vacuum 702 and no object within a block 1004 of the spatial regionof interest 1002 can be detected by the processor of the robot vacuum702, so the processor of the robot vacuum 702 determines that the stairappears at the forward path or the hole appears in the groundcorresponding to the forward path, resulting in the processor of therobot vacuum 702 re-determines a new forward path.

Please refer to FIG. 11. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a processingsystem 1100 for reducing data amount of a point cloud according to afourth embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 11, adifference between the processing system 1100 and the processing system500 is that the processing system 1100 further includes a dimensionreduction processor 1102, wherein coupling relationships between thedimension reduction processor 1102, the sampling rate controller 104,the transmitter 106, and the buffer 308 can be referred to FIG. 11, sofurther description thereof is omitted for simplicity. In someapplications, the applications do not utilize all coordinate valuescorresponding to each coordinate. For example, taking FIG. 9 and athree-dimensional (3D) coordinate as an example, all three-dimensionalcoordinates with (x904, y, z904) coordinate configuration within thespatial region of interest 704 have the same effect on the robot vacuum702. That is, because the height of the spatial region of interest 704is set according to the height of the robot vacuum 702 (assuming theheight of the robot vacuum 702 is 1), within the spatial region ofinterest 704, no matter objects located at a three-dimensionalcoordinate (x904, 1, z904) , or objects located at a three-dimensionalcoordinate (x904, 0.5, z904), or objects located at a three-dimensionalcoordinate (x904, 0, z904), the robot vacuum 702 will hit. Therefore,the dimension reduction processor 1102 can convert a plurality ofthree-dimensional coordinates within the spatial region of interest 704into a plurality of two-dimensional coordinates (that is, a plurality ofdimension reduction coordinates) to generate a two-dimensionalsimultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) corresponding to thespatial region of interest 704. That is, the dimension reductionprocessor 1102 can discard y coordinate of each three-dimensionalcoordinate of the plurality of three-dimensional coordinates within thespatial region of interest 704 to generate the plurality oftwo-dimensional coordinates. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, although athree-dimensional coordinate of a tip 9042 is (x904, 1, z904), becauseall three-dimensional coordinates with (x904, y, z904) coordinateconfiguration within the spatial region of interest 704 have the sameeffect on the robot vacuum 702, the processor (coupled to the receiver202) of the robot vacuum 702 can set a flag for a 2D coordinates (x904,z904) in the two-dimensional simultaneous localization and mapping (2DSLAM) to make the robot vacuum 702 avoid the two-dimensional coordinate(x904, z904). In addition, operational principles of the sampling ratecontroller 104 sampling the plurality of two-dimensional coordinates inthe two-dimensional simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) togenerate a plurality of sampled two-dimensional coordinates can bereferred to corresponding descriptions of the processing systems 100,300, so further description thereof is omitted for simplicity. Inaddition, because the dimension reduction processor 1102 can discard ycoordinate of each three-dimensional coordinate of the plurality ofthree-dimensional coordinates within the spatial region of interest 704to generate the plurality of two-dimensional coordinates within thetwo-dimensional simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), it is veryobvious that data amount of the plurality of three-dimensionalcoordinates within the spatial region of interest 704 is greater thandata amount of the plurality of two-dimensional coordinates within thetwo-dimensional simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). That is,the processing system 1100 can also reduce the data amount of the pointcloud. In addition, subsequently operational principles of theprocessing system 1100 can be referred to the processing system 500, sofurther description thereof is omitted for simplicity. In addition, inanother embodiment of the present invention, the processing system 1100does not include the buffer 308, meanwhile operational principles of theprocessing system 1100 can be referred to the processing system 100, sofurther description thereof is omitted for simplicity. In addition, inanother embodiment of the present invention, the dimension reductionprocessor 1102 is installed between the sampling rate controller 104 andthe buffer 308, so meanwhile the dimension reduction processor 1102 canconvert the plurality of sampled coordinates generated by the samplingrate controller 104 into s plurality of sampled dimension reductioncoordinates. In addition, in another embodiment of the presentinvention, the processing system 1100 does not include the spatialregion of interest processor 502. In addition, in another embodiment ofthe present invention, the processing system 1100 does not include oneof combinations of the spatial region of interest processor 502, thesampling rate controller 104, and the buffer 308.

In addition, because one of ordinary skill in the art should know thatthe dimension reduction processor 1102 can be a field programmable gatearray (FPGA) with the above-mentioned functions of the dimensionreduction processor 1102, or an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC) with the above-mentioned functions of the dimension reductionprocessor 1102, or a software module with the above-mentioned functionsof the dimension reduction processor 1102, or an analog integratedcircuit with the above-mentioned functions of the dimension reductionprocessor 1102 according to the above-mentioned functions of thedimension reduction processor 1102, descriptions of a correspondingstructure of the dimension reduction processor 1102 are omitted forsimplicity.

Please refer to FIG. 12. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a processingsystem 1200 for reducing data amount of a point cloud according to afifth embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 12, adifference between the processing system 1200 and the processing system300 is that the processing system 1200 further include a fixed-pointnumber processor 1202, wherein coupling relationships between thefixed-point number processor 1202, the sampling rate controller 104, thetransmitter 106, and the buffer 308 can be referred to FIG. 12, sofurther description thereof is omitted for simplicity. After thefixed-point number processor 1202 receives the plurality of coordinatesTDC (wherein the plurality of coordinates TDC are coordinates with afloating-point operation format), the fixed-point number processor 1202can convert the plurality of coordinates TDC into a plurality of secondcoordinates with a fixed-point number operation format (for example,each dimensional coordinate of each second coordinate can be representedby 16 bits) for sampling by the sampling rate controller 104, whereinoperational principles of the sampling rate controller 104 sampling theplurality of second coordinates with the fixed-point number operationformat to generate a plurality of sampled second coordinates with thefixed-point number operation format can be referred to correspondingdescriptions of the processing system 300, so further descriptionthereof is omitted for simplicity. In addition, in another embodiment ofthe present invention, the processing system 1200 does not include thebuffer 308, meanwhile operational principles of the processing system1200 can be referred to the processing system 100, so furtherdescription thereof is omitted for simplicity. In addition, in anotherembodiment of the present invention, the fixed-point number processor1202 is installed between the sampling rate controller 104 and thebuffer 308, so meanwhile the fixed-point number processor 1202 canconvert a plurality of sampled coordinates (with the float-point numberoperation format) generated by the sampling rate controller 104 into aplurality of second coordinates with the fixed-point number operationformat. In addition, because the fixed-point number processor 1202 canconvert the plurality of coordinates TDC into the plurality of secondcoordinates with the fixed-point number operation format, it is obviousthat data amount of the plurality of coordinates TDC (the coordinateswith the floating-point operation format) is greater than data amount ofthe plurality of second coordinates with the fixed-point numberoperation format. That is, the processing system 1200 can also reducethe data amount of the point cloud.

In addition, because one of ordinary skill in the art should know thatthe fixed-point number processor 1202 can be a field programmable gatearray (FPGA) with the above-mentioned functions of the fixed-pointnumber processor 1202, or an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC) with the above-mentioned functions of the fixed-point numberprocessor 1202, or a software module with the above-mentioned functionsof the fixed-point number processor 1202, or an analog integratedcircuit with the above-mentioned functions of the fixed-point numberprocessor 1202 according to the above-mentioned functions of thefixed-point number processor 1202, descriptions of a correspondingstructure of the fixed-point number processor 1202 are omitted forsimplicity.

In addition, in another embodiment of the present invention, at leastone of the fixed-point number processor 1202 and the dimension reductionprocessor 1102 can be applied to the processing system 500.

To sum up, the processing system provided by the present invention canreduce the data amount of the point cloud through one of combinations ofthe sampling rate controller, the spatial region of interest processor,the fixed-point number processor, and the dimension reduction processor.Therefore, compared to the prior art, the present invention can make thereceiver coupled to the processing system does not need a buffer withlarger capacity and a transmitter with larger bandwidth.

Although the present invention has been illustrated and described withreference to the embodiments, it is to be understood that the inventionis not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments, but on the contrary,is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangementsincluded within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A processing system for reducing data amount of apoint cloud, comprising: a sampling rate controller receiving aplurality of coordinates corresponding to the point cloud, and samplingthe plurality of coordinates according to an adjustable sampling rate togenerate a plurality of sampled coordinates, wherein data amount of theplurality of coordinates is not less than data amount of the pluralityof sampled coordinates; and a transmitter coupled to the sampling ratecontroller, wherein the transmitter is used for outputting the pluralityof sampled coordinates.
 2. The processing system of claim 1, furthercomprising: a spatial region of interest processor determining a spatialregion of interest, and discarding coordinates of the plurality ofcoordinates, which are outside the spatial region of interest accordingto the spatial region of interest to keep a plurality of firstcoordinates within the spatial region of interest.
 3. The processingsystem of claim 2, wherein the sampling rate controller determineswhether to adjust the adjustable sampling rate according to outputbandwidth of the plurality of first coordinates and a buffer furthercomprised in the processing system, and samples the plurality of firstcoordinates according to the adjustable sampling rate to generate aplurality of sampled first coordinates.
 4. The processing system ofclaim 2, wherein the sampling rate controller determines whether toadjust the adjustable sampling rate according to output bandwidth of theplurality of first coordinates and a predetermined bandwidth of thetransmitter, and samples the plurality of first coordinates according tothe adjustable sampling rate to generate a plurality of sampled firstcoordinates.
 5. The processing system of claim 1, further comprising: afixed-point number processor converting the plurality of coordinateswith a floating-point operation format into a plurality of secondcoordinates with a fixed-point number operation format.
 6. Theprocessing system of claim 5, wherein the sampling rate controllerdetermines whether to adjust the adjustable sampling rate according tooutput bandwidth of the plurality of second coordinates and a bufferfurther comprised in the processing system, and samples the plurality ofsecond coordinates according to the adjustable sampling rate to generatea plurality of sampled second coordinates.
 7. The processing system ofclaim 5, wherein the sampling rate controller determines whether toadjust the adjustable sampling rate according to output bandwidth of theplurality of second coordinates and a predetermined bandwidth of thetransmitter, and samples the plurality of second coordinates accordingto the adjustable sampling rate to generate a plurality of sampledsecond coordinates.
 8. The processing system of claim 1, furthercomprising: a dimension reduction processor converting the plurality ofcoordinates into a plurality of dimension reduction coordinates.
 9. Theprocessing system of claim 8, wherein the sampling rate controllerdetermines whether to adjust the adjustable sampling rate according tooutput bandwidth of the plurality of dimension reduction coordinates anda buffer further comprised in the processing system, and samples theplurality of dimension reduction coordinates according to the adjustablesampling rate to generate a plurality of sampled dimension reductioncoordinates.
 10. The processing system of claim 8, wherein the samplingrate controller determines whether to adjust the adjustable samplingrate according to output bandwidth of the plurality of dimensionreduction coordinates and a predetermined bandwidth of the transmitter,and samples the plurality of dimension reduction coordinates accordingto the adjustable sampling rate to generate a plurality of sampleddimension reduction coordinates.
 11. The processing system of claim 1,further comprising: a dimension reduction processor converting theplurality of sampled coordinates into a plurality of sampled dimensionreduction coordinates, wherein the transmitter is used for outputtingthe plurality of sampled dimension reduction coordinates.
 12. Theprocessing system of claim 1, wherein the point cloud is athree-dimensional point cloud, and the sampling rate controller is usedfor receiving a plurality of three-dimensional coordinates correspondingto the three-dimensional point cloud.
 13. The processing system of claim12, wherein each three-dimensional coordinate of the plurality ofthree-dimensional coordinates corresponds to a pixel and has afloating-point operation format.
 14. A processing system for reducingdata amount of a point cloud, comprising: a spatial region of interestprocessor receiving a plurality of coordinates corresponding to thepoint cloud, determining a spatial region of interest, and discardingcoordinates of the plurality of coordinates, which are outside thespatial region of interest according to the spatial region of interestto keep a plurality of first coordinates within the spatial region ofinterest; and a transmitter coupled to the spatial region of interestprocessor, wherein the transmitter is used for outputting the pluralityof first coordinates.
 15. The processing system of claim 14, wherein thepoint cloud is a three-dimensional point cloud, and the spatial regionof interest processor is used for receiving a plurality ofthree-dimensional coordinates corresponding to the three-dimensionalpoint cloud.
 16. The processing system of claim 15, wherein eachthree-dimensional coordinate of the plurality of three-dimensionalcoordinates corresponds to a pixel and has a floating-point operationformat.
 17. A processing system for reducing data amount of a pointcloud, comprising: a dimension reduction processor receiving a pluralityof coordinates corresponding to the point cloud, and converting theplurality of coordinates into a plurality of dimension reductioncoordinates; and a transmitter coupled to the dimension reductionprocessor, wherein the transmitter is used for outputting the pluralityof dimension reduction coordinates.
 18. The processing system of claim17, wherein the point cloud is a three-dimensional point cloud, and thedimension reduction processor is used for receiving a plurality ofthree-dimensional coordinates corresponding to the three-dimensionalpoint cloud.
 19. The processing system of claim 18, wherein eachthree-dimensional coordinate of the plurality of three-dimensionalcoordinates corresponds to a pixel and has a floating-point operationformat.